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Importance of approaches to the study of comparative politics
What do we compare in comparative politics
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The act of comparison is used frequently in many aspects of life and can inform us when making decisions, it can be useful in relatively serious scenarios such as whether to leave one job for another or less pressing matters such as which type of apples to buy. The qualities of comparison also feature within the world of politics, these qualities can help answer questions as to why things are the way they are within society and subsequently what may be done to maintain or change them, this may be deciding which UK political party suits a person's needs most or whether the North of England a receives fair share of resources when viewed alongside the South of England. While these examples provide a comparative approach within the UK cross national comparison too is a tool that may be used whereby data is collected from multiple countries. This essay will look at to what extent it is of use and relevance to compare across nations rather than one specific country of interest, it will aim to find out the advantages and disadvantages of doing so via empirical examples of how different states, systems and the elements that go into running a country operate.
Comparing is weighing up the similarities and differences of at least two things, comparing something with itself would produce no new information and hence would be a waste of time . In the political world this could mean the comparison of for example two or more governments ,regimes, economic models or the political participation of its citizens, meaning you can compare different elements of a country but you not a country with itself at least not from the same time period. Political comparatists search for equivalences and patterns that aim to seek out the most relevant variabl...
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...w for greater levels of predictions of future outcome, which can provide invaluable information in either promoting or avoiding similar scenarios. The comparative approach enables the testing of hypotheses in practical and ethical terms that would be otherwise difficult and could result in uproar if tested upon singular counties. It too does have drawbacks in that of selection bias and of contextual understanding of different countries ways but these can be remedied and even if it is not a perfect approach in that people can disrupt any hypothesi it is still of great value and worthwhile. A general but no less valuable reason for comparing across various nations can be to broaden a researchers horizons. Learning about different cultures and people can expand a person's knowledge from a narrower perspective that would be the case if they only studied one country.
Wilkinson & Pickett, (W&P) assert that society on the whole would be healthier, more successful and happier if the gap between the affluent and the poor was tightened. The ‘Spirit Level Book’, written by them in 2010, is one of the most influential books on social policy to date and it argues that not only does inequality affect the ones down the bottom of the ladder but everyone across the board. Affluent countries perform better when social indicators are more equal across society. This essay will assess the validity of Wilkinson & Pickett’s conclusions by comparing the works of authors that support similar arguments, to the work of authors who disagree with them. A comparison of these different approaches, with a critical look at what and how inequality is being measured reveals that there is no definite answer to the problems raised by Wilkinson and Pickett, although many of their statements are valid.
Comparisons over time may be inaccurate due to changing measures, unchanging measures, or projections. Comparisons among places can go wrong not only in different countries, but in rural and urban areas as well. Making comparisons among groups can also be comparing apples and oranges, as people with different socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or religion cannot be compared as simply as desired. Even social problems cannot be compared to each other, because no two are the same and sometimes aren’t even similar.
As well, metaphors exists everywhere. They influence the way we process information in our minds. Without the idea of comparison in order to achieve a better understanding of material, everything would be abstract and the way we perceive the information would be completely
Why do some countries have free universal healthcare and others require their citizens to insure themselves? Why is it that in some countries the retirement benefit a person receives is highly dependent on the amount of work they have done in earlier life whereas in others there is not so much difference made between the elderly? Furthermore, why is it that in Scotland people get to educate themselves in higher level academia for free but The English have to pay thousands of pounds for almost equivalent service? All in all, they are bare citizens living on the same island, with similar culture, speaking the same language and having much the same living standards. It is hardly the case that tens of thousands of euros paid for education in US pay off significantly more than an equivalent degree in Switzerland where the tuition is several times less. So why is there such a difference? The answer, as argued in present essay, is ‘politics’.
in The United Kingdom has increased at an alarming rate over the past few decades. There are some issues, which should not be ignored and should not be disregarded, for instance
Lijphart, Arend. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method." American Political Science Review. 65 (1971): 682-693.
Geographically in less developed countries (LEDCs) in comparison to more developed countries (MEDCs) have distinct dissimilarities with one another.
Thelen, K. (2001) ‘Varieties of Labour Politics in the Developed Democracies’, in Hall, Peter A.; Soskice, David (eds.) Varieties of Capitalism: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, pp. 71–103. New York: Oxford University Press
Andy Green’s article on the role of globalisation and comparative education explores the effects of globalisation in changing education and its implication for comparative study. He questions whether the decline of nation states constructs the national system as obsolete. His article considers the importance of studying educational systems as well as inquires to define the field of comparative education by reviewing how globalisation is changing education and comparative study. Green assesses the changing relations between education and the nation states, and concludes that the national education system is far from obsolete.
The United Kingdom is formally called “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” Government in the United Kingdom is considered to be Parliamentary. Although it is parliamentary, it is also described as being “majoritarian.” Parliament in the UK works a little different than the United States; the people of the U.S. are allowed to elect their president. In the parliamentary system the people elect who will be in the legislature, and the legislature then selects who the next prime minister will be. Then, once the prime minister is selected he choses members of the cabinet. This system creates a quick and easy political decision-making by popular majority. In this essay we will discuss the strengths and limitations the majoritarian government of the UK. One of the strengths of majoritarian government is perhaps that it is the fastest to pass or veto legislation, however there are limitations or weaknesses also like it lacks checks and balances from the House of Lords, and the disadvantage that the smaller parties have when it comes to elections, and not having a set calendar date for elections.
I am proposing to examine a period of ten years and all countries. By doing so, I will have a variation of different poverty rates and violent crime rates (whereas if I examined only countries in one particular region, the rates in poverty and violent crime might be very similar) as well as more data, which can help better determine if a correlation exists and how strong it is.
For years and years now, we are doing comparisons. In fact, it is the part of our thinking in daily routine. By comparing things we can get a better idea of the world. But did you know that when comparison takes the shape of an illness or inferiority complex? Yes, you are thinking right; it will become an inferiority complex when you start to compare yourself with others. We feel like we are nothing and are less important. But my friends that isn’t the case.
Newton, K. & J. W. Van Deth (2005). Foundations of Comparative Politics: Democracies of the Modern World, Cambridge: CUP, Ch. 4, ‘Presidential and Parliamentary Government’, 60-71.
Cross-cultural comparison: this entails that anthropologist should not generalize by thinking that all people are the same but it allows them to understand and study the sociocultural differences and similarities between people.
Comparative politics is an important aspect of political science in that instead of studying how this country functions, it studies why other countries around the world are the way they are. There must be some medium for finding the differences and similarities between one county and another in order discover what can effect such aspects as economic strength, military strength, and the structure of the regime in power. One reason to compare countries is to help ourselves by allowing us to learn about other countries while escaping the ethnocentric fallacy many of us have. The Unites States may have a good government but is not necessarily a perfect government; certain countries may have aspects of their own government that we could learn from and perhaps improve upon our own system. Another reason to compare countries is to understand how countries evolve, discover patterns, and why they evolve in the way they do. Another very important reason to study comparative politics is to better understand how certain regimes work for purposes of international relations and foreign policy. In order to create policy regarding other countries and in order to give aid to these countries we must know how these countries function so that we can work with the countries instead of blindly trying to change them in a way that we seem fit. This is especially important in the modern age with the evolution of a global cooperation between many countries and the fact that the United States has become the watchdog, big brother, and teacher for many of the less developed countries of the world.